A Daydream: It’s Totally Faux

I started this blog with the idea of showing clothes that are grounded in reality. So many high-style fashion blogs seem to represent lifestyle fantasies (or perhaps just a clean break with reality) rather than actual clothes and outfits that a professional could wear to work or to socialize. The best example of this phenomenon is >drumroll< shorts with heels.

But even I like to day-dream every once in a while.

I bought a beautiful faux fur neck-warmer for a friend last Christmas and thought about it all year. So soft, so beautiful. So I decided to buy one for myself this year. Yes, why not me?

Helen Moore makes faux fur accessories in a number of natural-looking shades (i.e., look like animals) as well as some unnatural dyes (red, lavender) so there were many choices to pick from.

Faux, but naturalistic

Faux, with interpretive license

Totally faux and, frankly, a little unnerving

After much thought, I settled on a non-brown with some variability in it — it’s sort of brown, sort of grey — imagining that it would look equally pretty with a black sweater or a cream colored one. As I look at this photo, I realize that it might be very effective* with grey or tan, too.

Product of hard thinking

Better than a sweater

And then I decided that I could come up with a much more glamorous ensemble than a SWeATer.

The only problem with this outfit is — no, it’s not the gigantic faux fur collar — is that it doesn’t seem designed for one temperature. I don’t think the heavily insulated neck and bare arms are going to the same place. Or, if they are, I don’t think both of them will be comfortable there. Hmmm.

Let’s not focus on the negative

The Photographer also worries that if I wear this faux fur collar out and about I will be censured for it. One solution is that I could wear a button that says It’s Totally Faux, but the button would sort of spoil the look. Another paradox.

I think it feels realistic; I’ve never touched a wild animal, but this feels a lot like Harper

So clever! APPLAUSE

Perhaps this is a good illustration of too clever by half. It’s a beautiful combination and we are going nowhere together.

I wasn’t sure about shoes for the fantasy ensemble. Black seemed too dark, and I don’t have grey or brown shoes. A ballerina flat would be too flat. I think burgundy/cranberry is the right call, although a low-block heel might be preferable. Think QEII.

12 thoughts on “A Daydream: It’s Totally Faux”

I agree with the Photographer this warming fanciful collar might attract more criticism than fun!The ‘disclaimer button’ ‘whether real or merely verbalized would become a much needed accessory and definitely detract from the ‘faux’ glam look. Harper, on the other hand , is the REAL thing and enhances every scene! Happy New Year, Day Five!

i think the collar is delicious and that you look EXACTLY like your cat. i just got on line and bought the same collar except in the near-black color and also a fab ocelot thing from the same website. (look at the “gift” section of the website if you’re looking for the buckle collar. That’s where it’s hiding.) The Directrice is a genius.

I wouldn’t let fear over censure stop you from wearing the collar. You like it.

I found myself wondering if my white fleece vest could go with something I was going to wear to a party -the answer was No- and ended up buying a white furry vest this season. If someone is going to get undone because it might be real fur I don’t really care. For me it’s a fun thing that’s consistent with my style of frequently wearing a white sweater or vest.

I love the collar and love the dress, and you look marvellous and stunning and glamorous and elegant, as always (softening the blow), but agree with your feeling they’re not natural compatriots as styled.

Maybe with tall boots, to echo the winter-iness of the collar, and a dramatic layer on top, to strip off when you got inside? The loafers belong to another outfit entirely, to my eye, although I love the cranberry.

Apologies for my trickery-pokery. (Although I realised I bastardised this – it’s supposed to be JIGGERY-pokery. Oops.)

Could you add a warm, close fitting, long sleeved top under the dress, and also tights? Would not be quite as captivating as bare marble-cold limbs, but wouldn’t spoil the lines of the outfit and would render it wearable. The two do look so good together that it would be a shame not to make it work.